Witnesses for Thomas refute claims One says boy only placed in outdoor kennel to be kept away from grill

Wednesday

Feb 20, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Samantha Allensallen@fosters.com

DOVER — In the ninth day of the trial of New Durham resident Christina Thomas, set to conclude this week, the defense called to the stand its first witnesses while the Strafford County attorney’s office concluded its list.

Having called upward of 30 witnesses, on Tuesday the prosecution brought in Dr. Lawrence Ricci, who served as a child abuse pediatrician specialist at Maine Medical Center in 2010 when the victim was first brought to the hospital. Ricci testified the victim was in a “dramatic” state, the most severe case he had seen in 25 years, when the victim, now 9 years old, weighed around 23 pounds four months before his seventh birthday.

Ricci testified the boy “shot up like a bean stock” in the six months after he was removed from the Thomas household, putting on 23 pounds and growing 5.5 inches by his next follow-up visit. He said on average, six year olds grow two to three inches over the course of a year.

He said these results led doctors to diagnose the victim with psychosocial dwarfism, an “uncommon phenomenon.”

“(The diagnosis entails) being underfed but also psychologically neglected and maybe even abused as well,” Ricci said, noting the diagnosis implies an element of “significant psychological and physical deprivation.”

Thomas, 34, faces 10 to 30 years imprisonment, according to her indictment papers, and is currently out on personal recognizance bail. She was indicted on a charge of first-degree assault for allegedly starving the victim last August. Thomas’ mother, Peggy Starr, 55, also of New Durham, will face trial in April for alleged second-degree assault of the victim.

Defense attorney Steven Keable pointed out in cross examination with Dr. Ricci, although the doctor made these diagnoses, he made many “presumptions” about the boy’s home life and interaction with the Thomas family. The doctor confirmed he presumed Thomas was the boy’s primary caretaker and said the primary diagnosis of the boy was malnutrition, followed by the secondary psychosocial dwarfism diagnosis.

During an approximate six-hour long period in Strafford County Superior Court, Keable called a few of only several witnesses he plans to bring forward in this case.

Steven Pearson, a roommate and friend of Thomas who lived at her home on Birch Hill Road in New Durham from 2006 to 2010, said he reported Thomas to the state Division of Child, Youth and Families (DCYF) when he saw the household situation “getting out of control.”

He told the courts he didn’t want his friend of 25 years to “get in trouble,” and even attempted to retract his statements to DCYF after Thomas’ children — five sons and one girl — were taken away by the state. Pearson said he saw the boy’s biological mother, and not Thomas, put the child in a dog kennel in the basement and also witnessed her placing her son’s head under water in the bathroom. He also testified police filed their reports incorrectly when they charged Thomas with criminal threatening for allegedly holding a knife to the boy’s mother in 2008, stating rather he saw the boy’s mother grab the knife and threaten Thomas.

The victim’s biological mother, a developmentally delayed 34-year-old woman who befriended Thomas in her teenage years, began living at the New Durham household right before giving birth to the victim in 2003. The woman was allegedly under the care of Thomas, because she needed a place to stay and a payee for her social security checks. The prosecution alleges Thomas was the primary caretaker of the young boy, though several defense witnesses said all the adults in the house assisted in providing meals and feeding children in the Thomas house.

Foster’s is not identifying the victim or his biological mother in this case to protect the identity of the juvenile.

A few defense witnesses offered an alternative perspective on some of the testimonies presented by the state’s witnesses this month. On Tuesday, one testified the victim was placed in kennel only when he would play “cops and robbers” with Thomas’ children where the kennel served as their imaginary “jail cell.” Thomas’s uncle, Richard Rooks, 53, testified the boy was placed into an outdoor chain link kennel at one barbecue event only to keep him from continually touching the grill.

Rooks, a DJ and karaoke host, noted in his 20 approximate visits to the family’s New Durham home over the course of nine years he had never seen his niece act abusively toward the victim. He stated the victim’s mother didn’t seem submissive, that she would “stick up for herself,” and once even tried to push his niece down a flight of stairs.

The prosecution has alleged the victim’s mother was under Thomas’ power, and the state’s witnesses have testified the mother was forced to exercise by Thomas, with her food withheld until she completed sets which was often times reportedly locked away in kitchen cupboards. Rooks said in his interaction with the mother, he understood she was “ecstatic” about losing weight and eager to lose even more.

Following the testimonies of Keith Brooks, a 10-year-long friend of Thomas, and Cheryl Marshall, Thomas’ cousin who lives in Farmington, Deputy Strafford County Attorney Alysia Cassotis asked both under cross examination if they thought Thomas “wore the pants” in her household. Cassotis also asked them if they thought it was odd that Thomas lived with her husband, Michael Thomas, as well Kevin Tulley, who has been referred to as the suspect’s boyfriend. Both men in court were described as having fathered some of Thomas’ children.

Additionally, Cassotis asked Marshall if her testimony had changed since the time she interviewed with DCYF investigators and police, at the request of family members. Cassotis said Thomas’s mother, Starr, has been sitting in the back of the courtroom throughout the entirety of the trial taking notes, and asked perhaps if she persuaded Marshall to answer differently.

“I don’t really want to know what’s going on,” Marshall said, who sat with family and friends of Thomas’ for the remainder of the afternoon Tuesday after giving her testimony.

When asked about circulating rumors that Christina “Tina” Thomas may take the stand this week and testify herself, Keable told Foster’s, “We are still discussing (that).” Keable said he expects to finish with his witnesses on Wednesday, though the trial may extend into Thursday if Thomas takes the stand.

After all witnesses have testified, the state may elect to go through a rebuttal process before closing arguments are made by both the defense and prosecution. After the judge explains applicable law to jurors specific to the case, they will be tasked with deliberating until they come up with a final unanimous verdict. If the jury cannot come to a unanimous decision, the jury will be “hung.” A mistrial may then be declared and a new opportunity will be presented for the state to try the case again.

This trial has already taken a lengthy amount of time, having been on the superior court docket for the last three weeks.

In court Tuesday, Starr was seen jotting down notes in the front pew behind her daughter, seated at the defense table. Thomas chewed gum during the trial and was seen laughing with family and friends in court halls at the end of a recess.

A few University of New Hampshire students, from the justice studies program, sat in on the trial with their professor to observe the case, similar to some teenagers from Prospect Mountain High School in Alton who attended the proceedings earlier this month with their teacher.